Infeed control mechanism for a closure lining machine



Dec. 16, 1969 c, GREEN ET AL INFEED CONTROL MECHANISM FOR A CLOSURELINING MACHINE Filed April '7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR CLARENCEC. GREEN JOHN LESTER DENLINGER ATTORNEY Dc. 16, 1969 c c. GREEN ET AL3,483,963

INFEED CONTROL MECHANISM FOR A CLOSURE LINING MACHINE Filed April 7,1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR CLARENCE c. GREEN JOHN LESTER DENUNGERUnited States Patent O 3,483,963 INEEED CONTROL MECHANISM FOR A CLOSURELINING MACHINE Clarence C. Green and John Lester Denlinger, Lancaster,

PZL, assignors to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster,

Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 629,281Int. Cl. B65g 47/26, 47/52 US. Cl. 19834 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The particular closurelining machine with its intermittently moving circular conveyer which isbeing fed by the infeed mechanism of this application is disclosed inthe application of Caleb H. Myer, Ser. No. 384,887, filed July 24, 1964,entitled Method of Forming a Liner on a Closure. This application isdirected to an improved form of the distributing means 23 referred to inthe above copending application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention isdirected to an infeed mechanism for supplying closures to the conveyerof a closure lining machine. More particularly, the invention isdirected to a photocell control sytem that senses the lack of closureswithin the infeed mechanism and prevents the feeding of closures untilsuch time as a predetermined number of closures are collected within theinfeed mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The use of a belt conveyer to feed theclosures into the groove of the rotating conveyer has been done in theprior art. Prior to the feeding of the closures to the belt conveyer, aconventional orientating device positions the closures so that they willslide down to the conveying belt with the inner surface of the closurefacing upward where it will be properly oriented to receive the liningmaterial on the inner face of the closure. The flow of closures from theorientating device tends to be intermittent in nature. Consequently, itis posible that the intermittent flow of closures to the conveyer beltmay be such that the conveyer belt will be empty, having fed all of itsclosures to the rotating conveyer. The sudden flow of closures from theoverhead orientating device will cause the leading closure to slidealong the conveyer belt and only partly enter the groove of the rotaryconveyer when rotation of the conveyer starts. This will crush theclosure since it is not fully seated in the conveyer groove. A furtherproblem situation exists when only one or two closures are resting onthe conveyer belt preparatory to being fed the rotating conveyer. Thefrictional contact of the closure with the belt is not Patented Dec. 16,1969 ice enough to move the closure rapidly forward. A plurality ofclosures in line must be totaled together to provide enough frictionalcontact to secure a rapid movement of the closures.

Both of the above situations can be corrected by maintaining a reservoiror quantity of closures on the conveyer belt. This then prevents theleading closure, of a sudden discharge from the orientating device, fromsliding along an empty conveyer and entering the groove of the rotaryconveyer out of sequence. Also, the reservoir of closures on theconveyer belt provides for rapid movement of the closures toward thegrooves of the conveyer due to their total frictional contact with thebelt providing a substantial force for moving the closures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed to an infeedmechanism for supplying closures to the rotating conveyer of a closurelining machine. The closures are fed from an orientating device by meansof a belt conveyer to the closure retaining grooves of the rotatingconveyer which carries the closures to the liner placing and formingstructures. A control means adjacent the belt conveyer feeds theclosures to the rotating conveyer when that conveyer is in position toreceive a closure. Normally a plurality of closures are lined up behindthe control means awaiting their individual insertion into a groove onthe rotating conveyer. A lack of a reservoir of closures, that is, thelack of a plurality of closures lined up on the belt conveyer in back ofthe control means, may generate a situation that will produce jamming.

This invention utilizes a photocell detection circuit that maintains aproper reservoir of closures on the belt conveyer. When the reservoir ofclosures on the belt conveyer moves below a set number, the photocellwhich scans across the belt conveyer is actuated by the lack of aclosure and initiates a circuit which locks the control means inposition and prevents future feeding of closures to the rotatingconveyer. When sufficient closures have been released by the orientatingdevice to again block the photocell path, the control means is unlockedand normal feeding of closures then is permitted.

The maintaining of the reservoir of closures on the belt conveyer theneliminates the possibility that the supply of closures on the beltconveyer is diminished to the point that a sudden discharge of closuresfrom the orientating device can cause a situation which results indamage to the closures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a top view of the infeedmechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the belt conveyer structure;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the control means in its unlocked position; and

FIGURE 4 is a view of the control means in its locked position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGURE 1, theintermittently operated rotary conveyer 20 is operated in the mannerdescribed in the above-mentioned copending application, Ser. No.384,887.

On the underside of the rotary conveyer 20 is fixed a cam 22, whichthrough appropriate linkage releases the closures for insertion into thegrooves 24 of the rotary conveyer. The cam 22 has its raised and loweredareas synchronized with the operation of the rotary conveyer 20 so thatthe closures are released to the conveyer when it is in its fixedstationary position ready to receive closures into its peripheralgrooves 24. The cam 22 is engaged by a cam roller 26 which is carried bya lever arm 28 secured to a fixed pivot 30. A link 32 is connected withthe cam roller and its support so that movement of the cam roller by theraised and lowered areas on the cam 22 will result in reciprocatingmovement of the link 32. The link 32 is connected to a bell crank 34 bypivot pin 36. Bell crank 34 pivots about fixed pivot point 38. The otherend of the bell crank is fastened to a slide 49 by pivot pin 41. Due tothe construction of the aforedescribed linkage, slide 40 willreciprocate in response to the contour of the cam 22 as sensed by thecam roller 26.

An orientating device of conventional design feeds the closures downslide 42 onto conveyor belt 44 so that the closures arrive on theconveyor belt with their inner surfaces facing upward preparatory forplacement of the closure liners. The endless belt 44 passes around theseries of pulleys 46, 48, 50, and 52 which maintain the tension in thebelt and drive the belt. Pulley 52 is connected by appropriate means toa drive means 54. Guides 56 retain the closures in alignment while thebelt 44 moves the closures from slide 42 towards the groove 24 of therotating conveyor 20. To provide for higher speed of operation, FIGURE 1shows two conveyor belts feeding the rotary conveyor. Each conveyor beltfeeds an alternate groove in the rotating conveyor. Consequently, eachtime the conveyor is stopped two closures are fed into two separategrooves on the rotating conveyer.

A control means 58 is provided to permit the release of the closuresfrom the belt conveyer to the groove of the rotary conveyer at the timethe rotary conveyer is stopped and in position to receive a closure. Thecontrol means 58 is connected to and operated by slide 40. A pivot pin60 fastens the control means 58 to the slide 40 and provides for thetransmission of the reciprocating movement of the slide 46 to thecontrol means 58. The control means oscillates about a fixed pivot point62 so that a pawl 64 is moved towards and away from the closures. Whenthe pawl 64 is towards the closures, it blocks the closures and preventsthe leading closure from moving toward the rotary conveyer under theinfluence of the belt 44. When the pawl 64 moves away from the closures,the closures are now free to move under the influence of the belt 44into one of the grooves onto the rotary conveyer 20. The control means58 is provided with an arm 66 with a notch 68. The control means 58 ofthe second closure feed structure corresponds generally to the structureof the above-described control means and has similar and related partsindicated by prime members 60-68.

The aforedescribed structure will now provide the orderly and systematicfeeding of closures to the rotating conveyer. However, to provide areservoir of closures,

a photoelectrically controlled locking system is used to fixe edlyposition the pawl in its closed position blocking movement of theclosures toward the rotary conveyer. As long as a reservoir ofapproximately six closures is maintained on the belt conveyer, a suddendischarge of closures from the orientating device does not cause jammingand provides a force for rapid movement of the closures.

The pawl locking structure is operated by photoelectric cell system 70which is positioned on opposite sides of the belt conveyer and isoperated only when there is not a closure available to block the pathwaybetween the photocells. Consequently, as long as six or more closuresare lined up on the belt conveyer, the photocell structure is notactuated. However, as soon as the number of closures drops below six, aclear pathway exists between the photocell structure and it is actuated.

By conventional electric circuitry, the photocell structure is connectedto solenoid 72. The solenoid rod 74 is pivotally fastened by pivot pin76 to link 78. Link '78 is pivotal about fixed pivot point 80 and has anend 82 which can engage with notch 68 of arm 66 on the control means 58.A corresponding photocell controlled blocking system is shown on thesecond infeed mechanism with corresponding elements shown by primenumbers.

Referring to FIGURE 3, the control means 58 is shown in its solid linedposition when it is blocking movement of the closures and is shown inits dotted line position when it permits the closures to move freelytowards the rotary conveyer. The link '78 is shown in its inoperativeposition since the required number of closures are lined up on theconveyer belt.

FIGURE 4 shows the same structure and its arrangement when an inadequatenumber of closures is lined up on the conveyer belt. The photocell hascaused actuation of the solenoid and moved link 78 into its operativeposition. Element 82 of link 78 now engages notch 68 of control means58. The pawl 64 of the control means 58 is now permanently locked inposition so that no closures can be fed to the rotating conveyer. Thecondition shown in FIGURE 4 does not interfere with the reciprocatingmovement of slide 40 since the pivot pin connecting slide 40 and thecontrol means 58 can be resil iently mounted in a conventional manner topermit the continued operation of slide 42 even when the control means58 is locked in position.

The aforesaid structure now permits the intermittent feeding or releaseof the closures into the grooves of the rotating conveyer at the timethe rotating conveyer has the grooves in position and stationary. Also areservoir of closures is maintained behind the control structure whichreleases the closures to the rotary conveyer so that the closures aremoved rapidly and are moved towards the rotary conveyer when it isproperly positioned.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed 1. Article feedingcontrol apparatus comprising friction feed conveyer means to feedsequentially a plurality of articles, conveyer means positioned toreceive articles from said friction feed means when released therefrom,oscillating releasable means to hold a reservoir of articles on thefriction feed means and timed to release periodically at least one ofsaid articles in a timed relationship relative to the aforementionedconveyer means, latch means controlling the oscillating releasable meansin a stop-feed condition, sensing means positioned adjacent saidfriction feed means in the vicinity of said reservoir of articles andresponsive to the quantity of said articles in said reservoir to operatesaid latch means, said reservoir of articles being a predeterminednumber of articles which operate as a means to absorb the impact of asudden discharge of articles along the friction feed means and operateas a positive pressure on the flow of articles from the friction feedmeans to the conveyer means, and said sensing means operates to controlsaid latch and said releasable means to positively block passage ofarticles from said feed means to said conveyer means when said reservoirof articles diminishes to less than said predetermined number ofarticles and said sensing means permits said latch and releasable meansto permit passage of articles from said feed means to said conveyermeans only as long as said control means senses the presence of saidpredetermined number of articles in said reservoir.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sensing means is a photocellcontrolled structure.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said feeding means includes meansfor feeding a single line of articles.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said friction feed conveyer meansincludes a conveyer belt and guide rails to confine said articles tosaid single line.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the oscillating releasable meansincludes a pawl member removably positioned above said belt in blockingrelationship to said articles and freely movable to periodically releasesaid articles unless locked in position by said sensing means determininthat less than the predetermined number of articles exists on the feedmeans.

5 5 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said articles are 2,341,705 2/1944 Fedorchak et a1. 198-34 closures. 2,912,093 11/1959 Lauck 19832References Cited 3,178,006 4/1965 Nigrelli et a1. 198-34 3,204,7529/1965 Conner 19834 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,279,531 10/1966 Drennan.198-32 5 EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner

